Pride and Prejudice, What Happened After The Movie
by freogirl1989
Summary: What happened after the movie? Will Darcy and Lizzie live happily ever after? Set after the 2005 movie.
1. Chapter 1

After Lizzie got her answer from her father she raced out of the study and ran outside and raced up to Mr Darcy. The first thing she did was threw her arms around his neck and jumped into his embrace.

"What did your father say my dear Elizabeth," Darcy whispered in her ear. Inside Darcy was hoping that her father had given permission because he didn't think he could live without her in his life.

"My father said that he could not part with me for anyone else less worthy," Lizzie said has Darcy placed her back on the ground and looked into her eyes with hope and pure love.

"I sincerely hope that means that your father has given his blessing because I don't think that I could live another moment of my life without you in it," Darcy whispered softly continuing to stare into Lizzie's eyes.

"Indeed he did give his blessing and I too could not live without you in my life, because you are all I think about and I want you to be in my life for all of eternity," Lizzie whispered while smiling with unshed tears in her eyes. With that Darcy wrapped his arms around Lizzie's waist and spun her around while smiling and thinking of nothing else but the fact that he was going to marry the woman that had finally accepted his hand after months of pursuing and trying to prove his love for her despite all the obstacles thrown in their path.

"I am so grateful that you are in my life and I am going to spend the rest of my life proving how special you are to me or my name isn't Fitzwilliam Darcy," Darcy whispered softly into Lizzie's ear so that no-one else could here but her, because he knew that Lizzie's family would be outside in a flash once Mr Bennett told them about the engagement. Just moments after Darcy had finished speaking to Lizzie, Mrs Bennett, Kitty and Jane rushed out to meet them while Mary and Mr Bennett stood in the doorway watching the women fawn all over Lizzie. Seeing that Lizzie was going to have a lot of questions to answer he announced that he needed to attend to some business over at Netherfield and would be returning later on along with Mr Bingley as Mr Bingley was to be returning anyway for dinner.

"I shall see you to your horse Mr Darcy," Lizzie announced quickly, wanting to spend a moment alone with her new fiancé before she was to be bombarded with questions about her apparent sudden change in heart to her family but to her, the attraction was always there no matter how hard she tried to fight it.

"I shall be awaiting your arrival for dinner Mr Darcy with supreme happiness," Lizzie said as the two of them arrived at the place where Darcy had tethered his horse at the front of the Bennett property.

"As will I my dear Elizabeth," Darcy said returning the sentiments. With that said Darcy leaned over and kissed Lizzie on the cheek and jumped onto his horse and galloped away, Lizzie stayed in the same position watching his handsome figure galloping off. Lizzie was about to turn around and head back to her family and the host of questions they surely had when Darcy stopped at the gate and yelled out to her the feelings that she herself had only revealed to her father.

"I love you Miss Elizabeth Bennett," Darcy announced and then rode off before she could respond.


	2. Chapter 2

When Darcy got back to Netherfield the first thing he needed to do was to sit down to write a letter to his beloved sister Georgiana to tell her the news that Lizzie had at long last agreed to become his wife. Although before Darcy could reach the privacy of his study to write the all important letter he was stopped by Mr Bingley, eager to find out how his trip to Longbourn went.

"How did your proposal to Miss Bennet go Mr Darcy?" Bingley asked with great curiosity and he also had a cheerful demeanour ever since Jane Bingley had accepted his hand in marriage.

"My proposal was accepted by Miss Elizabeth and after careful consultation with her father he gave his blessing to the prospective nuptials," Darcy proclaimed with a smile on his face, the first in a long time Mr Bingley observed discreetly.

"That's wonderful Mr Darcy; I presume you will be joining me in returning to Longbourn this evening for dinner with the Bennett family?" Bingley said with a knowing smile.

"You are correct in your assumptions Mr Bingley and it is getting late so I shall be getting myself ready for this evening if you'll excuse me," Darcy explained to Mr Bingley and then looking at the time realised that he would not have time to write to Georgiana that evening so he set out to get ready for dinner at Longbourn with the Bennetts, including his darling Elizabeth and the woman that had captured Mr Bingley's heart from the moment that they had set eyes upon each other, Jane.

As Darcy got ready for dinner he pondered the reasons why he had fallen so deeply in love with Elizabeth, was it her personality? No, that wasn't it but she never fails to rise to the challenge in an argument, which is one of the things that he loves about her but not the reason he fell for her in the first place. Was it the fact that she always looked out for her sisters no matter what they did? No, that wasn't the reason he is so deeply infatuated with her although it is an admirable quality of hers. All of a sudden Darcy realised the one thing that instigated his love for her, it was her eyes. The rich pools of melted chocolate that residing on her dainty, porcelain like face that captured his attention and then his heart. When Darcy realised that it was her eyes that had instilled the love in his heart, he sat down at his desk and started his letter to Georgiana so that he could let her know that he had found his soulmate and how he couldn't wait to marry her. Darcy had only written a page of the letter that he expected to be at least two or three pages, when Bingley called out to tell him that the carriage was ready to take them to Longbourn.

"Coming Mr Bingley," Darcy called out in return as he left the unfinished letter on his desk and left the room with a spring in his step knowing that in a short while he would be reunited with the woman that had captured his heart and soul and he couldn't wait to make her his wife.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as Mr Darcy had rode off into the distance Elizabeth was, as ecstatically happy as he seemed to be and she couldn't keep the smile off her face after what he yelled out as he rode off.

As much as she wanted to whisk Jane off to somewhere private so that they could discuss things that only newly engaged women could discuss, she knew that in a manner of seconds she would be bombarded with questions from every member of her family except the one person that she divulged her true feelings to, ones that she had not realised that she felt until recently, this was of course her dear father Mr Bennett, for he knew everything and being his most cherished daughter he would never divulge details of a conversation with Elizabeth no matter the contents of said conversation.

As soon as Elizabeth had rounded the corner she could see that her family was dying to ask her questions, in particular her mother and the first thing she said to her when she reached the congregation was, "I know that you all have an abundance of questions for me and I will answer them in due course but at this present time I would like to speak to Jane in private if that is permissible mother."

"I suppose that is okay, as long as it isn't too long for I would dearly love to know why all of a sudden I have two daughters engaged to be married, when I didn't even realise that you had any affection for Mr Darcy, in fact I was under the impression that you despised him," Mrs Bennett told Elizabeth as she and Jane made their way into the house and to the safety of the bedroom they had shared since infancy.

As soon as they entered the room they both got under the bedcovers, which is where they knew they could discuss the most private of things and could not be heard by anyone, they did this because Elizabeth was sure that several members of, if not all members of her family were listening intently at the door.

"Lizzie I thought you believe Mr Darcy to be most disagreeable, what happened?" Jane whispered to Elizabeth waiting with bated breath for the answer.

"My dearest Jane, you know when I told you that I had been so stupid just before Bingley came and proposed to you? Well what I wanted to tell you was that I had been so stupid because Mr Darcy is far from the arrogant and pompous person I thought he was. He is quite the opposite, he's considerate, thoughtful and as it turns out will do anything it takes to make my family happy," Elizabeth told Jane with tears glistening in her eyes threatening to, but not quite falling.

Elizabeth knew that Jane would never betray her confidence, or tell anyone anything that was said in the confines of their bedroom so she then told her of the things that he had done such as his involvement in Lydia and Wickham's hasty marriage and the fact that he encouraged Bingley to make contact with Jane which clearly led to Bingley's long awaited proposal. As soon as Elizabeth finished her speech begging that she must tell no one because Darcy would not want anyone to know what he had done, Jane stared at Elizabeth in disbelief.

"Did Mr Darcy really do all that?" Jane whispered not quite believing what she had just heard.

"Yes he did and when I was out walking this morning because I could not sleep, he happened to meet me at the bridge and knowing that my family means everything to me, he said that he had done it all to prove how much he cared about me and my happiness," Elizabeth whispered back with silent tears running down her face.

"If he did indeed do all this for you Lizzie, he must care for you a great deal," Jane told Elizabeth.

With all that said they threw back the covers and straightened their clothes and made their way out the door with the knowledge that they both had finally found men that loved them.

As Elizabeth sat in the drawing room answering the large quantity of questions from her family, all she could think about was how long till Darcy and Bingley arrived for dinner.


	4. Chapter 4

As Bingley's coach carried them down the long road towards Longbourn both Darcy and Bingley were in deep contemplation about how lucky they both were to find such remarkable women to marry them. As soon as the Bennett house came into view as the coach drew closer, a smile slowly crept across Darcy's face because he couldn't wait to be reunited with the woman he was to spend a lifetime getting to know and falling deeper than is love already was. Bingley felt the same way but he had always made his feelings known so it wasn't a shock and there was always a smile on his face due to his cheerful disposition.

"I say Darcy, why have you never before mentioned your affections for Miss Elizabeth before until recently? I thought she wasn't 'handsome enough to tempt you' I recall you saying at the Meryton Assembly," Bingley enquired just as the coach was about to pull up in front of the Bennett house.

"Because my friend, I have always been fascinated with Miss Elizabeth but I never knew the full extent of her affections and I had made some mistakes that I had to rectify before Miss Elizabeth could ever consider me or in fact before I was worthy of her considering. I made so many mistakes and I almost lost her but I saw I had done wrong and sought to correct that immediately and I also wanted to make sure her family was happy; because I know that if her family isn't happy, she isn't which led to me fixing Wickham and Miss Lydia's marriage and convincing you to re-establish your connection with Miss Jane Bennett," Darcy said quickly as they were about to stop and he became slightly distracted after he saw Elizabeth watching at the window.

"Well Darcy, at least now we can rejoice in the fact that we are both engaged to the women that we love and are going to spend the rest of our lives with," Bingley stated as the door to the coach was opened by one of the Bennett's servants.

As soon as the two gentlemen left the carriage they glanced at each other and realised that not only were they marrying the two oldest Bennett girls but they would also be "marrying" their mother as well and they both had a sudden look of terror on their faces but it soon vanished when they saw their fiancées standing at the front door looking radiant.

As Elizabeth was not one for convention and to be truthful Darcy had loosened up a lot more since knowing her, and because of that she leapt out the door and started running towards Darcy with a beaming smile on her face while Jane being the more conservative of the two calmly strolled towards where the men remained stationary. As soon as Elizabeth was close enough she leaped into Darcy's outstretched arms and they spun around a few time before Darcy eventually placed her back on solid ground with a joyful smile on his face that was only equal to the one reflected on his darling Elizabeth's face.

"Lizzie, you must contain yourself otherwise people will get the wrong idea about you," Jane said quite concerned about the way that her younger sister had acted towards Darcy.

"I shouldn't like to care about what anyone thinks of me and I never have and never shall, if they do not like who I am I shan't be bothered," Elizabeth exclaimed indignantly with a flush slowly rising up her neck.

As Darcy witnessed this exchange between the two sisters he realised how intensely attractive she was when she was defending herself and he remembered how she defiantly stood up to him that day under the rotunda in the pouring rain and how even though he was upset, almost angry at her but all he wanted to do was to pull her towards him, wrap his jacket around her, hold her and kiss her so she would feel how he truly felt about her,

After this exchange was over the two couple strolled into the house with Jane and Elizabeth looping their arms around their respective fiancés and wandered to the dining room where there was sure to be a myriad of questions from the Bennett family, mostly from the colourful Mrs Bennett.


	5. Chapter 5

While Darcy and Bingley were getting better acquainted with their future family, Netherfield had a visitor, the one person that planted the seed of doubt into the men's minds about their love for the Bennett sisters, the one and only Miss Caroline Bingley.

When she was told that her brother was out she was nonplussed but when she was told after being seated in the drawing room that both he and Mr Darcy were visiting their fiancées she was incredibly irritated. After declining the offer of tea she went upstairs to the room that her brother kept set up for her in case she happened to call upon him and needed to stay the night. On her way down the hallway she passed by Darcy's room, with the door slightly ajar because he left in such a hurry and she saw the makings of a letter on his desk and before she could go in and investigate it one of the servants came past and asked if she needed anything. Caroline replied in the negative and continued past Darcy's room but vowed she would find out the contents of that letter.

While all the business involving Caroline was happening at Netherfield, Darcy and Bingley were getting ready to head back to Netherfield with promises that both Jane and Elizabeth would return the call at the earliest possible convenience the next day. As Jane escorted Bingley out to the awaiting carriage, Darcy pulled Elizabeth into a dark corner and whispered, "I have something to give you my dear Lizzie, if you don't think it is too bold." With that said he opened a box that he had discreetly hidden in his coat and retrieved a ring from inside it.

"Darcy it's beautiful, but I fear that it will not suit me," Elizabeth whispered to Darcy as she stared in awe at the antique ring he held in his hand.

"Nonsense my dear, it is a symbol of my love for you. It was my great grandmother's engagement ring and my mother passed it down to me with the instructions to only give it to the woman that had captured my heart and that woman is you," Darcy spoke softly as he gently pushed it onto Elizabeth's left hand.

"It would be an honour to wear this ring, and besides if I wasn't wearing it Mr Bingley's sister might try and entice you into her arms," Elizabeth whispered with a smile.

"I would never stray from you, not even for Miss Bingley but I will tell you one thing, I know that it is not proper to do what I'm about to do but I just can't resist any longer," with that Darcy placed his hands on of Elizabeth's face and gently lowered his lips to hers in a soft kiss that brought feelings upon Elizabeth that she never thought was possible. After what seemed like minutes they gently broke apart and rested their foreheads together and stared into each other's eyes.

"I love you Miss Elizabeth Bennett and I will spend the rest of my life proving that to you every day," Darcy whispered quietly.

"I love you too Darcy, but if you don't meet Mr Bingley in the carriage I dare say he will leave without you," Elizabeth whispered back.

With that Darcy placed a soft kiss on her forehead and left the dark corner and walked out of the house leaving Elizabeth with the promise of seeing her the very next day.

When Darcy eventually made it to the carriage and he and Bingley headed back to Netherfield, Bingley asked him, "What took you so long Darcy? You were right behind me weren't you?"

"Indeed I was Bingley, I had an urgent matter to attend to," Darcy replied.

"Like what?" Bingley inquired.

"I presented Miss Elizabeth with my great grandmother's engagement ring as a symbol of my love for her," Darcy said with a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"My word Darcy, you really do love her, you told me that your mother gave it to you with instructions to present it to the woman that you were going to spend the rest of your life with," Bingley said with surprise.

"Exactly my friend, I love Miss Elizabeth and I intend to make her my bride as soon as is possible," Darcy said with determination in his voice and a look of contentment on his face.

After that conversation, the rest of the ride was spent in silent contemplation, unaware of their unexpected houseguest back at Netherfield.


	6. Chapter 6

Back at Netherfield Caroline was in her room concocting ideas on how to get her hands on the letter when she realised, the gentleman had not returned and by the sounds of it would not return for a few hours so she decided to sneak back to Darcy's room an

Back at Netherfield Caroline was in her room concocting ideas on how to get her hands on the letter when she realised, the gentleman had not returned and by the sounds of it would not return for a few hours so she decided to sneak back to Darcy's room and try and read the letter so she could discover the contents for herself.

It didn't take her long to get to Darcy's room as there were no servants to stop her. When she got to Darcy's room, the door was still ajar so she walked in and made her way over to the desk to read the letter. As she was doing so the gentlemen had arrived back from dinner and while Bingley entertained himself in the drawing room, Darcy was making his way up the stairs to his bedroom so that he could finish the letter to his sister about the wonderful occasion of his engagement to Elizabeth, all of this unbeknownst to Caroline who was preparing to read the aforementioned letter. As Caroline was about to read she heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Darcy standing in the doorway looking like he was about to yell at her.

"Oh hello Mr Darcy, I walked past your room and your desk look like such as a mess, so I thought I had better tidy it up for you," Caroline made up on the spot trying not to look too suspicious.

"Thank you Miss Bingley, but if you wouldn't mind it would be nice if you left the room so I may refresh myself before joining your brother in the drawing room," Darcy said making his way over to her.

"My brother is in the drawing room? I must go keep him company before he simply dies of boredom," Caroline said and then made a hasty exit out of the room.

Caroline thought that the easiest thing would be to join them in the drawing room and just ask Darcy straight out what the letter was about and who it was to. As she approached the drawing room door she saw that the two men were in deep conversation and as soon as she entered the room their heads went directly onto her and then in true gentlemanly fashion they bowed, as she curtsied.

"Charles, Darcy thank you for letting me stay the night, it is so very gracious of you," Caroline said sweetly trying to attract Darcy's attention.

"You are always welcome at my home Caroline, although it would have been better to a little notice so that we were here to greet you," Charles greeted in his always cheerful demeanour.

"I'm so very sorry dear brother but it was a last minute decision to visit," Caroline explained very apologetically.

"That's alright sister, why don't you keep Mr Darcy company while I attend to some matters of urgency," Bingley said to Caroline and then he swiftly left the room. Caroline took this moment as the perfect opportunity to inquire about the half-finished letter.

"Darcy, when I was tidying your desk earlier I noticed there was an unfinished letter, if is not too bold of me, might I enquire if it's a letter for your dear sister? I do miss her terribly, she is such a kind and accomplished young lady, you should be very proud of her," Caroline inquired in what she hoped sounded like a curious tone.

"I do not mind at all Miss Bingley, it was the beginnings of a letter to my dearest sister Georgiana about my recent engagement," Darcy replied with a genuinely happy look on his face.

"I see congratulations are in order Mr Darcy, to whom are you engaged?" Caroline said with dread in her heart because she had a sneaking suspicion of who it was.

"Miss Elizabeth Bennett, I proposed to her this afternoon and she accepted, and this evening after dinner I presented her with my great grandmother's engagement ring as a symbol of my undying love for her," Darcy said with a wistful look in his eyes because all he could think about was seeing his darling Elizabeth again.

After Caroline found out about the contents of the letter she wished she hadn't asked in the first place. She always knew that there was an attraction between Elizabeth and Darcy but she had always hoped he would come to his senses and realise that she, Caroline Bingley, was the woman he was destined to be with not some woman with no connections. As much as it pained her she came to the conclusion that he was not going to change his mind because she could tell that not only was he totally in love with her, as evidenced by the proposal, but he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, as evidenced by his giving her his great grandmother's engagement ring.

After Bingley returned to the drawing room Caroline announced that she was retiring to her bedroom and would be leaving at the first possible convenience, she of course did not make mention of the fact she was leaving because she knew that she couldn't convince Darcy to marry her instead of Elizabeth, she thought that was best kept to herself. Although she vowed to return in time for her dear brother's wedding.

Meanwhile, back at Longbourn, Elizabeth and Jane were still being bombarded with questions from their family, especially since Elizabeth came back into the room with a ring on her finger. Eventually both the women had had enough of all the questioning and Elizabeth was the one to say in a rather loud voice, "Enough of all the questions everyone, Jane and I have had enough, at least for today and we will be retiring to the tranquillity of our bedroom if you don't mind."

"Not at all my dear daughters! Just think one daughter married and two more engaged, there isn't a mother out there that could be as pleased as I am right now. Oh Lizzy, do let me look at that fine ring again, I bet it would be worth a lot, I suppose it wouldn't be a lot for the handsome Mr Darcy," Mrs Bennett said with rapidity.

"Mother as I have repeated many times this evening, money had no influence over Mr Darcy. He presented it to me as a symbol of our love" Elizabeth said getting quite annoyed at having to repeat the story over and over again for her most vexing mother.

After Elizabeth had spoken, both she and Jane walked out of the room and headed straight for their bedroom. As soon as they got there Jane quickly asked, "Oh my dear Lizzie, let me get a closer look at the ring."

"It was Mr Darcy's great grandmother's engagement ring and his mother passed it down to him with the instructions that he should only give it to the woman that had captured his heart, which is apparently me" Elizabeth told Jane smiling at how enthralled her sister was with the ring.

"Oh my, how terribly romantic!" Jane exclaimed.

"Indeed sister, and how happy I shall be to tell you all the details but right now I would very much like to get to sleep because I am exhausted. After all a lot has happened in the space of two days, and the sooner we get to see our fiancés," Elizabeth said as she quickly hopped into the bed and under the covers.

"I know what you mean Lizzie, my getting engaged to Mr Bingley and then yours to Mr Darcy, we do need our sleep but I insist on us discussing everything in great detail tomorrow," Jane said as she too got into the bed that she shared with her sister.

With that settled upon, they both fell into a contented slumber with the promise of discussing their engagements the next day, and the joy at seeing the men that had captured their hearts.

And over at Netherfield, Darcy and Bingley were lying in their respective beds dreaming of their fiancées and the promises of their new futures together.


	7. Chapter 7

When Lizzie woke up the next morning she couldn't help but smile because she knew that it was the beginning of the rest of her life. She knew when someone gets engaged their priorities change and not only was her family's reputation at stake (which Lydia clearly had no regard for) but now she could affect Darcy's standing in town as well.

After her quick reverie she got out of bed and quietly got dressed. Then turned around and realised that Jane was already up and probably downstairs.

Lizzie made her way downstairs after doing her own hair, as she preferred to do it herself instead of having the servant do it for her, and found that there were visitors for breakfast, none other than Darcy and Bingley, who both stood and bowed while Lizzie curtsied.

"Good morning Miss Elizabeth, Mr Bingley and I thought we would visit you this morning for breakfast, then with your parents permission you could spend the rest of today showing us around Hertfordshire," Darcy told Lizzie while she took her seat across from him at the dinner table.

"Of course they can show around our charming little district, isn't that right Lizzie and Jane," Mrs Bennett said excitedly and directed the last part of her statement at her two eldest daughters.

"It would be our pleasure to be escorted around Hertfordshire by such charming young women, and perhaps both Miss Bennett's could stay at Netherfield for dinner?" Bingley questioned.

Lizzie hoped that their mother would let them stay for dinner because she really couldn't stand another dinner full of questions from her demanding mother, and before her mother could say anything she answered in the affirmative.

"Wonderful, it would be our pleasure to have you over for dinner and if it is too late when we have finished dinner, you are most welcome to stay in one of the many guestrooms at Netherfield," Bingley said quite pleased with what was happening, partly because he was going to spend the day with his darling Jane.

So after breakfast was finished Jane and Lizzie cleared their dishes and headed upstairs to get ready for the day of showing their fiancés around Hertfordshire.

"Lizzie, I can't believe this is happening, both you and I getting engaged, it is so much more than I have ever dreamed of," Jane told Lizzie as she was changing.

"I know what you mean Jane, never in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought that I would have met a man that could ever love me, let alone marry me. I love Mr Darcy in a way that I never thought I could love someone. He lets me speak my mind and he doesn't back down from a discussion and he loves me, and he wants to spend the rest of his life with me because he wouldn't have given me the engagement ring unless he was sure," Lizzie told Jane as she was redoing her hair.

"You mustn't doubt his love for you Lizzie; even I can see that he loves you. Remember how I said that one day someone would catch your eye and that you would have to watch your tongue? Well I was wrong Mr Darcy is your match in every way, he is stubborn like you, proud and would do anything for his family's happiness just like you too. He also clearly feels that he needed to prove himself worthy of you after what you told me about what he's done for our family. Be thankful that you have found somebody to share the rest of your life with," Jane told Lizzie seriously, while she straightened her dress ribbon.

"I know he loves me Jane, it's just that this has happened so quickly for me. With you and Mr Bingley, there was an affection that began when you first met and grew from then on. My relationship with Mr Darcy is different because when we first met he was so reserved and stoic, and gradually the affection grew after I found out that he was not stoic at all, just guarded about his feelings," Lizzie said to Jane.

"Well I would love to keep discussing this but I fear mother will drive our fiancés away with her incessant questioning," Jane said smiling.

After that both the young women checked themselves in the mirror they made their way back downstairs to the drawing room where the men and their mother were waiting for them.

After they said goodbye to their mother and assured her that they would take care, they picked up their bonnets from the hall table and walked out the front door with their arms tucked into their respective partners and got into Bingley's carriage that was waiting for them. Bingley assisted Jane into the carriage first while Lizzie and Darcy waited behind holding hands.

"We shall be taking the carriage on our tour because we have already brought it from Netherfield, and I think that the horses could do with a good workout and it looks like it may rain, and it would be dreadful if our female companions caught a nasty cold," Bingley explained after he had entered the carriage with Jane.

When everybody had got into the carriage and they were on their way to Netherfield Darcy explained that they needed to go back there to organise some last minute dinner details and to ask the servants to set up the guest bedrooms in case the women needed to stay the night.

"Where did you want to start the tour Mr Darcy?" Elizabeth inquired as the carriage was making its way down the dirt road.

"Actually Mr Bingley and I suggested the idea of the tour so that you could get away from your mother for the day, because we know how much she can irritate you, we don't actually have to go on a full tour, maybe just a small one of the town. That way we can say we've been on a tour and then we can just have lunch in town and go back to Netherfield for dinner later on," Darcy told Lizzie quite proud of the fact that they managed to hoodwink Mrs Bennett.

"Mr Darcy, you really have loosened up since meeting my sister. I agree that we should have at least a tour of something so if our mother asks we can say honestly that we showed you a part of the district," Jane said surprised at Darcy's honesty.

"Exactly my point Miss Jane, and as soon as we have conducted our urgent business at Netherfield, we shall embark on a tour of Meryton and have lunch, then return to Netherfield and amuse ourselves till dinner," Darcy said to Jane, and she noticed that he wasn't actually looking directly at her while he was speaking, he was directing his vision at her sister who was staring out the window completely unaware that she was being stared at. It was then that Jane knew that her sister was going to be taken care of because she saw the love emanating from Darcy's eyes towards her favourite sister.

Most of the trip was in comfortable silence until Darcy asked Jane if she would like to swap seats so that he could speak to Elizabeth without talking across the carriage. After they did swap seats it was Jane that struck up a whispered conversation with Bingley so Darcy whispered in Elizabeth's ear in a husky tone that only she could hear, "And how are you this fine morning my dearest Elizabeth?"

"Well if you must know Mr Darcy, I have been a bit overwhelmed after all, this has happened so fast and I can't believe how lucky I have been to find you," Elizabeth replied in an equally low tone.

"Now we are engaged my dear you may call me by my first name, Fitzwilliam, or by what my sister Georgiana calls me, William. In regards to how lucky you are, it is I who is lucky because I've found you, I know that it all seems so fast but I promise you that we will have the rest of our lives to grow old and have children together. You are the only woman that has been on my mind for the last six months and I hope for many years in the future," Darcy whispered with his voice cracking with emotion.

"Oh William, I am so humbled by your affections, it will bring me such pleasure to marry you and give you a family, I only hope that our children have half the good graces and great mind that you have," Elizabeth told Darcy with tears welling in her eyes.

"Oh but if they had half of your fine looks Elizabeth I would be the proudest father in all the country," Darcy whispered.

With all that said silent tears of happiness started falling down Elizabeth's face so Darcy leant over and gently pulled her into a hug and they stayed that way for the rest of the journey back to Netherfield, with Jane and Bingley looking over the couple in love.


End file.
